


all those vows we couldn't keep

by onceuponanevilangel



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Feelings, Hurt/Comfort, Pining, Pre-Relationship, listen i have a lot of feelings and now you have to read them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 06:15:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14206899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onceuponanevilangel/pseuds/onceuponanevilangel
Summary: Hecate turned her gaze to the fire still crackling in the hearth. It cast a cozy orange glow around the empty staff room, but the way that the shadows played across her face made her look sharper somehow, more severe.“You don’t have to do that,” she said finally.“I know I don’t have to,” Pippa replied. “But that’s not what I asked.”....After the events of the s2 finale, Pippa realizes she's missed more than she thought over the past few months





	all those vows we couldn't keep

**Author's Note:**

> I've been lurking in this fandom for a while now, so I guess it's about time I actually contributed something. This is my first time writing them, so I hope it's good. I'm marking this complete for now, but I suppose I could add more if people want it? Idk we'll see what happens I guess.
> 
> Unbetaed and written in a flurry of procrastination, so I apologize for any mistakes.
> 
> Title comes from "Suddenly Strangers" by Lauren Aquilina.

Halloween at Pentangle’s was usually Pippa’s favorite day of the year, but when she first heard the news of the incident at Cackle’s, she forgot all about the celebrations, and holed herself up in her office with her maglet and tried to keep up with the fallout.

The very first thing that she had done when she heard was send Hecate a quick message:

_Are you alright?_

Over an hour and a thoroughly exhausting amount of correspondence with the Great Wizard and other academy heads later, she still hadn’t received a response, and she was starting to get more than a little worried. It wasn’t entirely unlike Hecate to take her time answering, but from the sparse details that Miss Cackle had provided in her message to the heads, Pippa knew that it had been bad, and even though she had made it a rule for herself to not push Hecate, she decided that this was an exceptional situation.

Before she had time to talk herself out of it, she set down her maglet and pulled a silver hand mirror out of a desk drawer. She murmured the spell under her breath and waited as a shimmering smoke clouded the glass of the mirror. A heartbeat passed, and then it cleared and Pippa could see into the staff room at Cackle’s.

There was a fire crackling in the hearth, and someone had pulled a chair close to the flames. It was at an angle so that at first Pippa couldn’t see who was there, but then a pair of pale, shaking hands appeared and Pippa’s breath caught in her throat.

“Hecate?” she called softly, hesitantly, not wanting to startle Hecate, but that was exactly what she did.

Hecate tensed, froze, seemed to collect herself for a beat before turning and noticing the mirror.

“Pippa,” she said.

Her tone was nearly unreadable, but Pippa had spent years learning the art of interpreting even the tiniest of Hecate’s signals, and as Hecate drew closer, she noticed how worn and spent and _tired_ Hecate looked. Her face was pale and although she was doing an admirable job holding herself steady, Pippa didn’t miss the way she had to hold her own hands to keep them from visibly shaking.

“I heard about what happened,” Pippa said. “And when you didn’t answer my message, I was worried.”

“There’s no need to worry. Mildred Hubble seems to have a bit of a knack for saving the academy, and everything worked out in the end.”

“So I heard from Miss Cackle,” Pippa said. “But it’s not the academy I was worried about. How are you?”

Hecate didn’t speak for a moment, and that was all the answer Pippa needed.

“What happened?” she asked quietly.

“You’ve heard of what happens in a magical blackspot I assume?” Hecate asked, looking down at her hands rather than at Pippa.

“Of course. It freezes all the magic in…oh. _Oh,_ Hecate, were you – ?”

“F-frozen,” Hecate said. “Yes. For a rather short time.” She couldn’t suppress the chill that ran through her, as if the mere memory of it was enough to freeze her again. She flushed, cleared her throat, drew her cloak just a bit more tightly around her shoulders, and it made Pippa’s heart ache.

“Oh, Hiccup, I’m so sorry.”

“Nonsense,” Hecate said firmly. “Nothing that’s happened of late has been your fault.”

Which wasn’t entirely true. Pippa knew that although she hadn’t been responsible, she hadn’t made things easier with her unannounced visit to Cackle’s barely a week ago, or her reluctance to reach out to Hecate in the first place. She had been so wrapped up in giving Hecate her space and not pushing, but she had heard the rumors of all the things that had been happening at Cackle’s lately from students who had taken well to the spirit of inter-academy friendships. She could tell just from looking at Hecate that the last few months had taken quite a toll, and the mere thought that she hadn’t been there for any of it was enough to make her heart ache.

Hecate sniffed and cleared her throat again, and Pippa’s lips twitched with the ghost of a half-hearted smile.

“Don’t tell me there’s something going around too.”

“Some of the third years have fallen a bit under the weather, yes,” Hecate said coolly.

Pippa sighed, resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She already felt a little bit guilty for calling unannounced and the last thing she wanted to do was risk pushing too far and losing Hecate yet again. The balance they had at the moment was tenuous, a gossamer thread of connection that felt like it could snap at any moment, so of course she had to choose her next words carefully.

“I can fly out at first light if you’d like me too.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Pippa wished she could take them back, but they hung there, heavy and uncertain in the air between them.

Hecate turned her gaze to the fire still crackling in the hearth. It cast a cozy orange glow around the empty staff room, but the way that the shadows played across her face made her look sharper somehow, more severe.

“You don’t have to do that,” she said finally.

“I know I don’t have to,” Pippa replied. “But that’s not what I asked.”

She braced herself for the moment that Hecate would lift her hand and break the connection, but it never came. Instead, Hecate turned to look at her, and Pippa didn’t miss the shine of unshed tears in her eyes as she nodded her head ever so slightly.

“Yes?” Pippa asked.

“Yes,” Hecate said.

“Then I’ll be there first thing,” Pippa said. “It appears that we have quite a bit to catch up on.”

“It would appear so.”

Perhaps Pippa was just imagining it, but she swore she saw the corner of Hecate’s mouth twitch even as she looked back at the fire.

“Good night, Hiccup,” Pippa said.

“Good night,” Hecate replied.

Pippa lifted her hand to break the connection, and just before the glass became clouded with smoke, she became sure that her imagination was playing tricks on her, because for a flash of a moment she could have sworn she saw Hecate purse her lips in a motion that almost looked like a kiss, but then Hecate turned away, the scene dissolved, and Pippa found herself back in her office with her mirror in her hand and the light of the full Halloween moon shining through the window on it.


End file.
